The best us online dating sites

While owner Markus Frind has wiped the site of folks only looking for casual dating or an age-gap relationship, I've found this has only increased the incidence of folks lying about their age or intentions.

Still, it's a great site to get your feet wet in the online dating world, just to see what's out there and how the process works.

Although this list can change every few months, the biggest of the bunch usually stay the same.

So if you're looking for an online dating site that offers the most active members, in all parts of the world with biggest features and most active forums, these are your best places to start.

Both kinds are popular, so you can’t go just by that.

In the 2016 Consumer Reports Online Dating Survey, more than 9,600 people who had used an online dating service in the last two years were asked which one they had joined.

But in terms of overall satisfaction, our survey found that free dating sites actually score a touch better than paid ones, probably because they're a better value.

More » Zoosk hosts an estimated 11.5 million unique users a month, and it's easy to see why: the sign-up is quick and easy, there's little to no profile writing needed, and the search features prominently display photos.

Having said that, I've found a larger-than-average number of folks looking only for something casual here (likely due to the lack of time investment needed to join), and I've yet to hear of any successful relationships come out of the site (where readers tell me they've met The One, or something equally special, on the site).

“If sending messages had a price or you could send only a fixed number per day, people you contact online would know you had to give up something to do so, which would incentivize better behavior,” he says.

Perhaps beyond just charging for messages, sites could adjust the price according to how high quality someone's engagement seems to be.